Academics
by thedemonsangel
Summary: College student, Uzumaki Naruto spends some of his time at school getting to know Uchiha Sasuke. Their relationship develops through amusing events up through graduation. SasuNaru, AU, rated for language and situations.
1. Library Coffee

I pulled this from my da; however, it is my most recent update from that site. This only had a few days before making the jump here. Basically this (eventually three part) fic is a prize for my first place recipiant from a contest I held on da...back in August or September.... Yeah...it's taken me this long to get this started. The other two parts will arrive as I get them done.

Warnings:  
This is an AU, SasuNaru, three part story. There is most likely some OOC…sorry about that…(I have a habit of making Sasuke perverted). Oh, and a crazy Anko is present as well. If you don't like SasuNaru, or other warnings, then hit the back button.

Oh...and this story is rated for language and suggested themes....for now.

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Grumbling, Naruto rolled out of bed, hoping that he wouldn't have to fight his roommate for the bathroom again, especially since he had to get to the library for work study. Yeah, Uzumaki Naruto was a sophomore in college and worked in the library some mornings. It wasn't so bad since the blonde was able to wake up early and stay up late if he had to…and he really had to in order to pay for school.

Thankfully, for Naruto, Kiba was still out cold in his bed, so there would be no fighting over who got to have control over the bathroom that morning. Still, that didn't mean that Naruto took forever, in fact his morning routine took a total of ten minutes at most, mainly because of his habit of showering the night before; Kiba was the one who took forever. With that done, Naruto then left the room and began his walk across campus.

That morning the sun was brightly shinning and the sky was clear, but Naruto knew better than to think that the entire day would be so nice. The school was in an area where the weather could change from bright and shinning one moment to a complete downpour the next. Oh well, at least it was nice while he was going to work.

Opening the door to the library, Naruto made his way over to the circulation desk and plopped himself into the seat that was recently vacated by his 'morning boss', Anko.

"Hey, I was wondering when you would get here, blondie."

Glancing at the clock, Naruto noticed that he was five minutes early. Really, was Anko really that desperate to have a break when she just opened the library not even an hour ago?

"I'm early…."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to deal with these brats walking in and out, and besides, isn't that boy supposed to be coming in soon?" Anko questioned with a sly grin.

Glaring at his boss, he still couldn't help but to mutter under his breath.

"What was that, blondie?"

Freezing up for a second, Naruto realized he was caught, so he might as well tell her what he said before she got a crazy idea of embarrassing him somehow.

"I _said_ 'he'll be another half an hour', now don't you have some work you can be pretending to do?"

That sent Anko away into her office…which had a giant glass window that allowed her to see who was in the lobby of the library, and it was conveniently placed behind Naruto's post. With Anko finally gone, Naruto let out a sigh. He always wondered how someone like _Anko_ managed to get a job in a library of all places.

Glancing at the clock, Naruto realized that he had yet to deal with the coffee. Getting up from his spot, Naruto wandered over to the back counter where two coffee pots were waiting. One held decaf and the other was regular, and that was the one he was going to be messing with. See, while he wouldn't openly admit it, for fear of Anko getting evil ideas, Naruto had a bit of a…_fascination_ with the young man who would come in at the same time every morning. It wasn't a crush or anything…there was just something that made Naruto want to know more about him. At least…that's what the blonde told himself.

Taking the full pot of regular coffee and pouring it back into the coffee maker, he replaced the filter and coffee grounds. He got into the habit of double brewing the coffee on the mornings he worked. It started with the tired, grumpy-looking young man that would be entering later. The dark-haired young man certainly didn't look like a morning person…so Naruto decided to try and jump-start the other male's day one morning. The muttered 'thanks' that he got afterward was enough to make him repeat his actions from that morning on.

Some minutes later, Naruto returned to the coffee and poured it into a dispenser and wandered away from the circulation desk to put it up in their "coffee area" that was probably the only reason some people ever came to the library. Free coffee would make anyone want to go to the library. Once he completed that task, Naruto went back to the circulation desk and as he took his seat, the door of the library opened.

In strode the dark-haired young man, looking as if he was ready to kill the first person that tried to talk to him that morning. He was about to walk right past Naruto sitting there, but the blonde wouldn't allow him to get away so easily.

"If you hate mornings so much…why don't you just come in at night? We are open until two in the morning…."

Naruto watched as the other turned his glare toward him, but it no longer fazed him. After receiving the same glare from the dark-haired stranger for a full semester and a half, it did lose its potency.

"The coffee is double brewed, so you better get some before it's taken by other morning haters," Naruto mentioned when he realized that the other wasn't about to say anything to him.

The small nod he received would have seemed like it was just to throw the blonde off of an actual answer, but Naruto eventually knew how to decipher certain messages from the young man. It was kind of funny, he knew how to translate the gestures, but he still didn't know his name. The other never checked any books out while Naruto was on duty, so he couldn't find out that way. Oh well…he would eventually learn it…he hoped.

~*~*~*~

Thursday night, a notorious party night on many campuses, and of course, it was no different at this campus. However, Naruto certainly wasn't complaining about party night, especially since he worked at the library on Thursday nights. It meant that the library was practically a ghost town, except for those few 'good students' that came in to actually do work on the week night.

At the moment, Naruto was shelving books that had been returned while another student, Sai, was downstairs at the circulation desk. He didn't _mind_ shelving books, but it was always annoying when he had to get a stepladder to get to a shelf just out of reach. Though, being upstairs shelving meant that he wasn't around his 'evening boss', Ebisu. That man was just weird….

"What are you doing here, idiot?" someone questioned.

"Huh?!"

The sudden appearance of the dark-haired stranger surprised Naruto, nearly causing the blonde to fall off of the stepladder he was on. Luckily, he managed to catch his balance and not fall over.

"W-what are _you_ doing here?!"

"Quiet. You're in a library, are you not? Besides, I asked you that first."

Naruto blinked in confusion. Was this really the same glaring stranger that would silently enter the library in the mornings?

"I…work here?" Naruto managed to get out.

"A question? You don't know if you work here? You must really be an idiot."

Glaring at the dark-haired male, Naruto didn't give a damn if he was fascinating in some way, he wasn't about to take this shit from him.

"I'm working, you bastard, so unless you have a question, I suggest that you let me get back to shelving these books."

Watching the other, Naruto then decided that the odd conversation was now over, so he went back to putting the books where they belonged. However, he did notice that he was being followed by the annoying bastard. It really was getting irksome when he would wander off to another aisle to put some more books away, only to turn around and see two dark eyes watching him intently.

"What do you want?!"

"Hn."

If anything, that one…could it be called a word? Well, whatever it was drove Naruto to be even more annoyed with the stranger.

"Isn't it a party night?" the other asked.

Naruto paused for a moment before returning to work. He could talk and get things done…as long as the bastard wasn't difficult.

"Uh…yeah, why?"

"You seem like someone who would be out partying, not working."

Frowning, Naruto jumped down from the stepladder, only to realize, to his dismay, that he was shorter than the stranger. This made him wish that he had stayed up on the damn thing.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but partying isn't the highest priority on my list. Paying for school and trying to keep my grades up are more important," Naruto huffed.

"So you don't party?"

"I…wouldn't say that, but I just don't go searching for one when there are other things to do."

Naruto turned back to the small stack of books that he still had to put away and sighed before turning a suspicious gaze toward the stranger.

"You sure are talkative right now…why's that?"

If Naruto didn't know that the dark-haired bastard was quite emotionless, he would have said that there was a faint flush of pink that crept over the stranger's face after his question. However, since a second later it seemed that there never was even a slight moment of embarrassment, the blonde let it go.

"Hn."

Oh _hell_ no, not that again. Naruto glared at the other, only to see that he was turning and was about to walk away. Hey, wait, he never got his name and who was to say that he would ever get the chance to find out again? Not to mention that the bastard never did answer his question.

"Hey! You never answered my question, you nameless bastard!"

This seemed to catch the dark-haired stranger's attention since he paused in walking away from Naruto, but the bastard simply glanced back and shot the blonde a smirk before continuing to walk away. This of course made Naruto peek his head out from the shelves, only to see the bastard sitting at one of the tables with books and papers spread out. Hmm…so it seemed that he took Naruto's advice about coming in at night rather than morning.

Forgetting about catching the other's name, Naruto went back to shelving the books.

~*~*~*~

A little over week had passed and it seemed that the dark-haired bastard liked to come around and bother Naruto for a few minutes before getting to his homework, but this annoyed the blonde greatly. How long could the damn stranger avoid from sharing his name and making Naruto forget about asking until it was too late to ask? However, now was not the time to be wondering about bastards and their bastardly ways. No, Naruto had a midterm paper that he had to complete, and thankfully he didn't have work that night. Sure, it was a Friday night, and most people were out partying and the library was closing earlier than the other days of the week, but Naruto needed to get the paper done since it was due on Monday morning. The blonde knew better then to think that he would be able to do it over the weekend, he had other obligations over the weekend, so it was one of those 'now or never' deals.

Frowning as he tapped his highlighter over his packets of copied research, Naruto sighed. Really, how hard was it to explain the beginning of the development of language? Okay, strike that, it was annoyingly difficult. Not because the subject matter was all that hard…but because he just couldn't bring himself to _care_. It also didn't help that the teacher didn't actually _teach_ the class anything. It was one of those 'look at these chapters, know it all, and then write about some obscure topic that no one knows a damn thing about' type classes. Well…maybe not that bad…but Naruto still didn't have to like it.

"I'm getting nowhere," the blonde grumbled while dropping his forehead onto the space beside his laptop.

"You're only now figuring that out, idiot?"

Naruto's gaze instantly hardened at the taunting voice. He knew the voice but, damn it all, he still didn't know the name of the bastard.

"You're a bastard."

"So I've been told."

The soft thump of books being placed on the table across from him made Naruto angle his face to see what the other was doing. Great, the bastard was sitting down and reading across from him. Now he definitely wouldn't get anything done.

Making the attempt of ignoring the other, Naruto picked up a random packet of research and started reading the parts he highlighted, only to throw it back down and drop his head back down on the surface of the table.

"You're probably just killing brain cells by doing that," the bastard reprimanded.

"Screw you."

"Offering?"

Naruto picked his head up from the table, only to glare at the other smirking at him. Really, what was up with this guy?

"No."

The blonde watched as his dark-haired tormentor simply shrugged and went back to reading some book. Naruto then went back to his own work…or rather…he tried to. The lights began to turn off in the building, causing the frustrated young man to grumble. It was closing time it seemed, and he still didn't have the damn paper finished.

"Time to go."

"Thank you, captain obvious," Naruto muttered.

"Hn."

Now, Naruto was usually an energetic and happy young man, but after being unable to finish his paper during library hours, and having to put up with the bastard—who's name he still didn't know—the littlest thing would set him off. It just happened that the little pseudo-word was enough to piss him off.

"Damn you, you damn bastard!"

He watched the bastard in question simply raise a dark brow as if silently wondering if the young man in front of him was even sane.

"You're so infuriating! You don't say a damn thing in the mornings, and then when you do say anything, it's to bother me! Is it your life mission to bug the hell out of someone you don't even know the name of?!"

"Hey, dickless, it's time for your boyfriend and you to leave," another cut in.

Naruto spun around and glared at yet another tormentor of his…Sai.

"He is not my boyfriend! I don't even know this bastard's name, and…what the hell?! Are you two related or something?"

Naruto stood there, as the library lights continued to turn off, and glanced back and forth between the two most annoying people in his life. They looked eerily alike…and Naruto found that just plain creepy.

"Hn. Come on, idiot, the library is closed."

Glaring at the annoying stranger and then at Sai, Naruto stuffed his backpack with the things on the table, and then stormed off ahead of the two, muttering something about annoying dark-haired bastards. However, once he got outside, Naruto didn't know why, but he waited out by the door.

"Waiting on me?"

Glaring at the bastard, Naruto huffed and crossed his arms.

"No. Why would I wait for _you_?"

"Hn."

Naruto decided that it just wasn't worth the effort and began to walk away. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get far without being stopped by the bothersome stranger he still had a slight fascination with.

"Naruto."

"Huh?!"

The blonde immediately paused when he heard his name being said by the bastard. How the hell did he know his name?

"My name is Sasuke."

Turning around and blinking, it seemed that Naruto would let the past annoyances go for the time being since he grinned and poured all his attention back on the other.

"Sasuke, huh? Well, it's nice to finally have a name to call you by; though, I still like the term 'bastard' to tell the truth," Naruto announced. "I'll see you around then, Sasuke."

Wandering away, the blonde was in a surprisingly better mood than before…until he remembered that he still had a paper to write before Monday morning.

~*~*~*~

The end of the semester was coming in about a month, meaning students were rushing around trying to sign up for classes and housing for the next school year, leaving Naruto and his roommate, Kiba, in an interesting fix.

"So…are we moving to the apartments or not?" Kiba questioned.

"There's only us two, I don't want to be stuck with two people I don't know at all," Naruto argued.

"You'll have your own bedroom."

"But still…."

"Fine," the brunette sighed, "how about…we each find one person who will be willing to live with us for a school year? That would solve our problem, and you wouldn't have two people you wouldn't know living with us."

"Hmm…I don't know…."

"Damn it, Naruto!"

"Okay, okay…geez…. If in one week we can't find two people, we're living here again," the blonde reasoned.

"Alright! We're off to the apartments!"

"B-but we haven't found anyone yet…. Kiba, listen to me!"

Sadly, for Naruto, Kiba rushed off in his excitement, leaving Naruto to sit there wondering who would be willing to live with them for a whole school year….

~*~*~*~

A few days later, once again spending a night working in the library, Naruto was doing the monotonous work of edging. Bringing the books to the end of the shelf and making sure they were all even…it had to be some sort of mental torture, and considering that Ebisu was the one who wanted the blonde to do it, Naruto wasn't going to doubt it. He swore that the man had some sort of issue with him.

Naruto sighed as he finished one aisle and moved to another. He wanted some sort of distraction to get him out of such boring work.

"Naruto."

Blinking, the blonde inwardly grinned; he was saved by the bastard.

"What?" he questioned while turning to see Sasuke watching him blankly.

"Find this for me."

Narrowing his eyes at Sasuke, Naruto huffed while snatching the piece of paper in the other's hand to see the call number of the book that bastard was having issues finding.

"Yes, _master_," Naruto hissed out of annoyance.

Just before Naruto turned around to find the aisle he needed, he noticed Sasuke smirk. He knew that damn smirk all too well.

"You damn pervert, you liked that, didn't you?"

He watched as Sasuke just shrugged, neither denying nor confirming his question. This made Naruto mutter to himself as he stomped off to find some book while Sasuke followed. Skimming the titles in the section, Naruto sent Sasuke a curious glance.

"History? I didn't take you to be one interested in history, bastard."

"Hn. It's interesting, and it's something to keep me from going insane with business classes," the other replied.

"So…what's your major?" Naruto asked.

A moment of silence passed between the two before Sasuke shook his head, leaving Naruto slightly annoyed with the other.

"That's usually a generic question for people who just meet, not those who've been talking for some time now," Sasuke pointed out.

"Just shut up and tell me."

The look that Naruto got after his comment made him glare at the bastard.

"You know what I meant!" Naruto shouted.

"Quiet, you're in a library," Sasuke teased. "Anyway, I major in both business and history. What about you?"

"Eh…I major in theatre and minor in history."

"Hn."

Pulling out the book that he had been sent to find, Naruto handed it over to Sasuke.

"Hey, maybe we'll have a class together next year or something. I don't need as many history classes as you, but we could help each other with the work!"

Naruto decided to ignore the look of suspicion from Sasuke and go right into an unrelated topic.

"Hey, do you want to live on campus next year?" Naruto questioned.

"Huh?"

"Well, you commute, right?"

"Yes…so why would I move on campus?"

"Because my roommate and I want to move over to the apartments, and I don't want to move in with people I don't know…. So…want to move in with us?"

The look that the blonde received made him pout slightly, especially when Sasuke seemed to ignore his question and walk away with the book. This made Naruto realize that the bastard hadn't even thanked him for finding the book.

"Damn bastard," he muttered.

Naruto then decided that he didn't want to push his luck with bugging Sasuke, not to mention that he still had to return to the mind numbing job of edging.

~*~*~*~

"Hey…."

Naruto's head shot up as he heard someone talking to him. Normally he would be more alert during the morning shift…mainly because he was afraid of what Anko would do to him if he wasn't paying attention, but hearing Sasuke talking before noon caught him by surprise.

"…yes?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"If I agree to this whole rooming on campus thing…you have to give me something."

Although a normal person would be suspicious of the agreement, Naruto seemed rather excited that Sasuke was willing to agree with the apartment on campus idea. The more the blonde got used to the idea that he wouldn't have to listen to Kiba's snoring, the more he was really hoping that he could find someone to move in with them.

"What?"

"Your virginity."

"WHAT?! I knew you were a pervert!"

Luckily for Naruto and Sasuke, there wasn't anyone within hearing range of his outburst. Even Anko wasn't around…she said that she was taking a break, but she was probably stalking one of the professors or a student….

"I'm kidding."

"Oh…" Naruto muttered while calming down. "Then what the hell do you want?"

"You—"

"I knew it!" a voice shouted from the door.

Naruto groaned. Anko was back.

"You and the Uchiha are going to make man babies!" she shouted while gathering Naruto into a headlock.

"No we're not!" Naruto shouted at her. "Now let me go and do your work!"

Anko just gave the boys a wink before wandering into her office, to which she left the door open, most likely to be able to listen in on the conversation.

"…as I was saying…" Sasuke started again. "You would have to make coffee for me in the morning, so I don't have to come here and get it."

"I'm not your damn mother!"

"I was thinking more along the lines of wife really…" Sasuke mentioned with a smirk.

That comment had Anko erupting with laughter, and leaving Naruto irritated.

"I'm not your _wife_ either, you damn bastard."

"Well, it's that or you find someone else for the apartment."

Glaring at the final comment the Uchiha made, Naruto sighed. If he really wanted to get the apartment on campus, and not deal with some stranger, then he would have to agree to Sasuke's request. It's not like it was difficult or anything…. Feeling his resistance give away, the blonde looked back up to meet Sasuke's gaze.

"Fine."

"Good, now you can fill out the paperwork and all that; it is due tomorrow, isn't it?"

Reluctantly, Naruto nodded and watched as the Uchiha wandered away, and during this, he felt that the next school year was going to be a long one.

"Ah…now you two are going to live together? I bet you lose your innocence before the end of the first semester!" Anko hollered from her office.

Oh yeah…a long next year was ahead of him….


	2. Holidays and Vacations

It's early in the morning, and I just finished this about half an hour ago, and this just went up on deviantart. I should have been in bed a while ago, so if there are errors, that might be why....

Warnings:  
SasuNaru, a moment with something bordering a lemon (if not crossing that border a bit), ooc?, pervert Sasuke (but in lesser amounts here), AU, etc....

Disclaimer:  
I do not own the Naruto characters.

* * *

Glancing around his room, boxes surrounding him, Naruto sighed before sitting down and unpacking. It was a new school year and anything could happen; that's what was a bit frightening and exciting at the same time. The blonde spent the summer vacation at home, which was a full day's worth of driving away, with his parents; however, that did not mean that he was cut off from everyone. He dedicated a portion of his time to answering emails from various people at college…two in particular.

Both Kiba and Sasuke would send him emails, and so he replied. It got to the point that both males learned when Naruto devoted time to the computer just so they could send multiple emails to the blonde in one day. Naruto simply got used to it since he refused to download an instant messenger on his parents' computer…it wouldn't surprise him if they wanted to get to know who he was associating with. As for his computer he got from the school, well…Naruto forgot that one of the boxes he put in storage had his charger in it, rendering his computer useless for the summer. Then using the phone…well, that was a no go since he really didn't want his parents eavesdropping, especially if it was Sasuke calling him. Now that would leave him with a lot of explaining to do…considering the emails he got from the Uchiha, and Naruto never had his cell phone charged.

Unlike Kiba, who would just talk about his dog or Shino, the person the brunette drafted as a roommate, Sasuke did send some normal emails, allowing the two to get to know each other better, but some were…weird and perverted. The normal emails had basic information, such as likes and dislikes. This led the two to realize that, while they were very different, they had some similarities…like their love for history. Naruto also learned that Sasuke had an older brother, to which the blonde told the bastard that he was an only child. Sasuke told him he was lucky. However, moving away from the normal emails, there were also the weird ones in which Sasuke would ask "do you want to know what you were doing in my dream?" only to then tell Naruto, whether he wanted to know or not, the situation and details that took place in the dream. These emails would often leave the blonde red and sputtering at the computer screen.

Realizing that he zoned out, Naruto went to dig through another box, only to be interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"So you're the one."

Twisting around to face the stranger leaning against his doorframe, the blonde was momentarily confused, until he noticed the obvious similarities between the stranger and Sasuke. If this was the bastard's brother, then apparently his looks were genetic and not some weird fluke; the Uchiha men looked too pretty for their own good…not that he would ever say that out loud. Naruto didn't have a death wish.

"Are you Itachi?"

A simple nod was the reply, leaving Naruto to believe that conversational skills were at a minimum among the Uchiha family.

"And you're Naruto."

No question, just a statement that rather unnerved the younger man; however, he was intimidated further when the older Uchiha glided into his room and took a hold of his chin to look directly at his eyes. Moments dragged on for, what seemed to be, forever until Naruto was finally saved.

"Hands off," Sasuke growled.

Naruto was grateful when Itachi finally released him and turned his attention toward Sasuke. Really, dealing with one Uchiha was quite enough for the blonde.

"You're supposed to be helping me move in, not molesting my roommate."

"I never got to the molesting," Itachi protested, "besides, I wanted to see who was worthy of all your chatter this summer. You hardly say more than two words over the breaks, so you can't blame me for wanting to know who the miracle worker was."

The first comment of Itachi's made Naruto wonder if it was normal for members of the Uchiha family to be perverted. Then again, he probably didn't want to know.

"Just get away from him," the younger of the brothers hissed.

"I should warn you, he's rather possessive," Itachi mentioned while turning back to the blonde. "Well, I suppose I'll see you later, Naruto."

Naruto could have sworn that he heard a "no you won't" come from Sasuke, but he had no proof of it, so he let it go, besides, the blonde still had a lot of unpacking to do.

Once the brothers were out of his room, Naruto was about to continue unpacking, but the thud he heard from the next room confused him. Cautiously leaving his room, Naruto peered from his room, which was at the end of a very small hallway that led to a bedroom on his right and a bathroom on his left, and noticed that Sasuke was on _his_ side of the apartment. When the main door to the apartment shut, signaling Itachi's departure, Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"What are you doing on my side?"

He watched as Sasuke picked his gaze up and was blank for a moment before an unnerving smirk crossed Sasuke's face.

"That's right…you were doing a play the night for room sign-ups weren't you? Well, Kiba and I made a deal…I wouldn't kill him and he let me room on _your_ side of the apartment."

"You blackmailed him!" Naruto gasped.

"Not like he was fighting it…" Sasuke muttered. "Besides, wasn't it _you_ who complained that Kiba's snores could wake the dead? I was doing you a favor."

Naruto wasn't sure that Sasuke was really doing him a favor, but he couldn't deny that Kiba snored loud enough to wake some of the deepest sleepers, so he let it go and went back to his unpacking.

~*~*~*~

The next morning, which happened to be the Saturday before classes started, Naruto couldn't help but tilt his head at the unrecognizable lump underneath Sasuke's blankets, but what amazed him even more was that it was already past noon and the bastard was still dead to the world when Naruto had been awake since seven.

Frowning, Naruto quietly closed the door to Sasuke's room before wandering into the 'living area' of the apartment and wandering over to the coffee maker in their kitchen. Even if it wasn't morning, Naruto had a feeling that Sasuke would want some form of caffeine if he had to get up, and he had to because there was no way that Naruto was going to be sitting around the apartment alone. Kiba and Shino weren't supposed to arrive until Sunday.

Once the coffee was done, Naruto brought a mug into Sasuke's room and placed it on his desk before beginning the task of waking the other up. However, Naruto wasn't sure how to even go about waking up the bastard. He didn't know if Sasuke was a light sleeper or not, so maybe waking him up gently would be the best….

"Hey…Sasuke…."

Poking the Uchiha in the side, or what he assumed was the young man's side since the blankets were thrown over Sasuke's entire body, Naruto waited for a response of some sort. A few seconds later, when no response came, Naruto huffed. Well, it would seem that Sasuke was not a light sleeper.

"Hey, bastard!"

This time, the blonde shoved Sasuke, only to, once again, get nothing to indicate that the Uchiha was even alive.

"You're not dead, are you?" Naruto asked. "I have coffee…."

After his last statement, Naruto finally got some sign of life beneath the mass of blankets when the lump shifted ever so slightly.

"Coffee, Sasuke…caffeine…" Naruto rambled in a sing-song voice.

"…hn."

It didn't matter that the pseudo-word was dripping with sleep; Naruto finally got some sort of verbalized response.

"Come on, wake up!"

"…."

"Oh no, you're not starting that again, bastard. Get up, it's already after noon!" the blonde shouted.

"Saturday…still early…more sleep," came the grumbled and broken reply.

Getting rather fed up with Sasuke's aversion toward facing the day, Naruto grinned as he grabbed an edge of the Uchiha's cocoon and ripped it from Sasuke's body, only to then turn a horrible shade of red and throw the blanket back at a dazed bastard.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!" Naruto yelled once his back was facing Sasuke. "Who the fucking hell sleeps in the nude without locking their door?!"

Naruto heard a shifting from behind him, which led him to assume that Sasuke was finally awake; though, the blonde would have preferred that he had thought of a different way to wake the Uchiha up.

"Why are you still in here? Hoping to get another glance?" Sasuke asked in a sleepy, yet amused, tone.

"N-no, you damn perverted bastard!"

Naruto stomped out of the room but paused in the doorway for a second.

"Your coffee is on your desk."

Once that was said, Naruto quickly went into the hall and shut the door to Sasuke's bedroom. This certainly was going to be a long school year….

~*~*~*~

Naruto sat in his room and watched from his window as the campus quickly became a ghost town. It was Friday afternoon, right before the week long Thanksgiving break. It was no surprise that 99% of the residents were leaving to spend the week at home, but the blonde was prepared to spend this particular break alone…like he had been doing for the past two years.

"Naruto."

Hearing someone call him Naruto turned his gaze to the closed door of his room, wondering why Sasuke hadn't left yet.

"Come in, the door is open," the blonde called.

He then glanced back out of the window as he heard Sasuke enter. It was weird to watch a place that had been so lively only hours before transform into a desolate location.

"Are you really going to just stay here?" the Uchiha questioned.

Blinking innocently, Naruto finally fixed his gaze on Sasuke, having given up watching the vacant campus.

"I've done it before, it's no big deal."

Naruto watched as Sasuke frowned at him, but really, the blonde saw no issue with staying around the school. Sure, he would have to go to a store soon and stock up on food, and there would be no one to speak with, but he was used to having to spend the week alone. It wasn't like he couldn't go home if he wanted to; Naruto just saw no point in going home for a week, only to come back for two weeks and be sent back home for winter break.

"Naruto…you'll be here by yourself."

"I'm well aware of that, bastard." Naruto mentioned with a small grin. "What, are you concerned about me?"

"Hn. I just don't like the idea of you sitting around eating only ramen for a full week."

"Aww, you do care!"

This sent the blonde into a fit of laughter; however, he quickly snapped out of it when he noticed that Sasuke grabbed one of his luggage bags and began picking through his closet.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Naruto demanded.

"I'm packing some of your things; what does it look like?"

"W-why?" he asked while watching Sasuke scrutinize his wardrobe.

"You're coming home with me."

Naruto stared at Sasuke blankly for a minute, leaving the Uchiha to continue packing in silence until the blonde finally snapped out of his trance.

"Don't I get a say in this?!"

"Nope," Sasuke said.

"And why the hell not?"

"Because I said so."

"I'm not your slave, you damn bastard!" Naruto argued. "I don't have to go with you if I don't want to. I'm perfectly fine here!"

It seemed that Sasuke wasn't going to listen to Naruto since he zipped up the luggage he packed for the blonde, and started to walk out of Naruto's room. This left the blonde to follow Sasuke, arguing against the whole thing along the way, never noticing that they were in the elevator, then walking out into the parking lot. It wasn't until after the bastard stashed Naruto's luggage in the back seat of his car and took a seat in the driver's seat that Naruto realized that he was trying to argue with the Uchiha on the passenger side of Sasuke's car.

"I'm not going to win…am I?" Naruto sighed.

"Do you even have to ask?"

With nothing else to do but to just give in, Naruto shook his head as he muttered and got into Sasuke's car. Well…how bad could the week be at Sasuke's house?

Well, his question was answered not long after he arrived. When Sasuke dragged him into the large home, he came face to face with the bastard's mother. Now, Naruto had nothing against Mikoto, but he wished that she wouldn't squeeze him so tight…. She was obviously excited that her youngest son "finally brought a friend home", so she was rather enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. Though, the blonde feared that if Sasuke hadn't told his mother that he had stopped breathing, he would have died from her excitement.

Then Naruto met his father. The man seemed to stare right _through_ Naruto, leaving the blonde rather uncomfortable. The older man sitting there staring at him had even worse conversational skills than Sasuke and Itachi combined, which Naruto wouldn't have believed if he hadn't experienced it himself. It wasn't until Fugaku asked his name. Once Naruto answered, he seemed satisfied, so the blonde didn't question it.

It was after the meeting with Sasuke's father that Naruto ran into Itachi again. The older of the two brothers merely smirked and greeted him before disappearing. Naruto then came to the conclusion that Sasuke was actually normal compared to the other members of the household…which was slightly difficult for Naruto to accept. Sasuke certainly wasn't normal, but when was Naruto ever "normal" either? The blonde then deemed that he would have fun getting to know the Uchiha family and maybe ruffling up a few feathers while he was here.

~*~*~*~

"Oh! Naruto, dear, what are you doing down here?"

Spinning around from the kitchen sink, Naruto spotted Mikoto watching him from the entrance to the kitchen. It wasn't as if he was doing anything to get into trouble, in fact, Naruto was so bored he decided that he would come downstairs and wash some dishes since no one else seemed to be awake. However, it seemed that Mikoto was the morning person in this household. Well…someone had to be with sons and a husband that slept like hers.

"I was just…washing the dishes…I hope you don't mind…."

"Of course I don't mind, but Naruto, you're a guest, you don't have to do that," she reassured him.

"I want to, and it gives me something to do since I know Sasuke won't be getting up anytime soon…" Naruto muttered with a slight blush.

He had hoped that the dust of pink on his cheeks would go unnoticed, but Mikoto certainly had sharp eyes. Naruto heard the giggling before realizing that he had been caught, which only caused his blush to deepen from the embarrassment.

"Oh you poor dear…you've discovered Sasuke's sleeping habits, haven't you?"

One would think that Naruto had gotten over the incident that had taken place nearly three months ago, but as the blush finally turned an interesting shade of red, it was obvious that he hadn't.

"I don't understand why he does it," Mikoto started, "but I've decided that I don't want to know. Now, since you're the only one 'alive' at the moment, what would you like for breakfast?"

"I-I don't mind…you don't have—"

"Nonsense!" Mikoto chirped. "It will be nice to have someone, who can speak coherently, to cook for in the morning. It's better than hearing grumbles for coffee."

Naruto wasn't sure what to think. Sure, he was technically a guest, but he hated the feeling of being waited upon.

"How about…I help you cook breakfast for the sleepyheads?" Naruto asked. "I don't really want to leave you with all the work…and I help my mother all the time so…."

A squeal was all Naruto got for a warning before he was embraced tightly for the second time since his arrival. Mikoto certainly loved giving hugs…which made him wonder if her affection had somehow become warped in Sasuke and Itachi, leaving behind perverted tendencies.

"Oh you are so precious! You're the _perfect_ friend for Sasuke!" she announced. "Or perhaps you two are more than friends?"

Naruto was quick to notice the sly smile, not quite a smirk, on the woman's face. It made him pale before quickly shaking his head in argument against the statement.

"Th-there's nothing between us…."

"Ah, but I've seen the way my son looks at you…and he would certainly be foolish to let you get away!"

If he thought that he could find no way to be even more embarrassed than before, Naruto was finally proven wrong. It seemed that Mikoto was quite the fan of the idea of her son being with him…and while Naruto didn't exactly disagree, he didn't agree either. Nothing more than flirting had happened between the pair, so how could they be more?

"Uh…how about we start that breakfast now?"

The blonde watched as Mikoto merely gave him a small wink before heading over to the fridge and pulling out things they would need to be able to make a breakfast for the five of them.

Working together with Sasuke's mother to make breakfast proved to be an interesting experience, especially when Naruto told her about something he would make all the time, which then ended up in Mikoto wanting him to show her how to make it. Really, it was simple. All one had to do was take a piece of bread, cut a hole in the middle with a glass, and then butter both sides of the bread and its center and put it in a pan to begin to toast it. Once it was in the pan, Naruto then took an egg and dropped it in the center of the bread where the hole was. From there he let the egg cook, and then flipped it when it was time to cook the other side. This left a yoke-filled egg in the middle of bread, with a small circle left to dunk into the gooey yoke once it was broken. It was a personal favorite of his, but he didn't understand why Mikoto would want to know how to make it when her family gave the impression that such a simple meal would not be impressive.

"You certainly are quite a catch, Naruto. I'll have to have a word with Sasuke."

"Wait...don't—"

"I think I hear someone getting up…and it's about time too! It's practically noon!"

The first one up, after Naruto and Mikoto that is, happened to be Itachi. It was amusing to Naruto that Itachi seemed to be dazed with sleep so much that he didn't even register that anyone else was around until he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a few sips.

"Go wake up your brother," Mikoto ordered, "and I'll get your father."

If Naruto wasn't already accustomed to a violent, evil, semi-awake Uchiha, he would have started laughing at the look of horror and disgust that crossed Sasuke's brother's face as Mikoto left the room.

"You," Itachi muttered sleepily while turning to Naruto, "wake 'im."

"B-but she told _you_ to do it!"

"Hn."

Unfortunately, having lived with Sasuke for the last three months, Naruto also knew when an Uchiha was more focused on caffeine intake than anything else, and until the quota for caffeine was filled, there was no possible way to get him to do anything. He assumed this was the same for Itachi, which caused him to sigh and grumble as he went back upstairs to get the bastard to wake up.

~*~*~*~

Thanksgiving…a holiday where food was often made in large amounts, leading to people who think that they can eat more than they actually can, and it was the first time in two years that Naruto was both celebrating the holiday and helping with the dinner. Mikoto had tried to stop him from helping, but finally gave in when Naruto would just slip into the kitchen, while she was taking care of something else, and start helping again.

The day passed as most Thanksgiving Days would, filled with food and chatter, but it was late in the evening when anything really interesting happened. Everyone had gone to bed, but Naruto was sitting up in the guest room talking with his parents at the end of his long day. He couldn't just go without calling them, but once he hung up the phone, Naruto sighed and went through his backpack.

He managed to drag Sasuke back to the campus a couple of days before so he could get the homework he was supposed to get done over the break, but at least he didn't have to worry about signing up for next semester's classes since that was taken care of the month before, leaving him with one less thing to do.

At this point in the semester he was left with mostly projects for his classes since the last two weeks of the semester would be starting in a few days. Besides he could easily get some work done since he was used to being up early and late because of his hours at the campus library. Pulling out a book about Roman history, Naruto began to skim through certain chapters, while hoping that he could get a decent grade on the project; however, a light knock on his door caused a distraction.

"Hey, I saw the light on."

Naruto realized that it was Sasuke the moment he opened the door, even without looking over at the doorway. How he knew was beyond him, but he wasn't complaining.

"Yeah…I just got off of the phone with my parents, and since I had nothing better to do I decided to try and get some work done."

Sasuke nodded silently, but Naruto noticed that he didn't leave. Instead he shut the door and took a seat across from the blonde on the bed. The Uchiha simply watched him as he skimmed through his history book, not that Naruto minded anymore; he had gotten used to it during his months of living with Sasuke since he realized that the bastard liked watching people.

After a while, Naruto realized that he couldn't even skim through the pages without the words blurring together to the point where he couldn't tell what he was reading. A moment after this realization, he felt the book being tugged out of his hands, forcing him to look up at the book thief.

"Hey…I was…reading that," Naruto argued between yawns.

"You can hardly keep your eyes open. Just get some sleep."

"Give me…my book…back."

The small glare that Sasuke sent him was hardly effective since Naruto had grown immune to such glares. Though, when the Uchiha sighed and shook his head, Naruto was slightly confused. That was, until Sasuke's lips were on his own. Blinking out of shock, Naruto pushed back against Sasuke's lips ever so slightly to show that he wasn't just sitting there in a complete daze, but he was still unsure of the whole thing. However, Naruto soon found that he was pushed back against the mattress by an amused Sasuke.

"Now go to bed."

The blonde frowned at the order, to which he wanted to be defiant against the Uchiha's orders, but once Sasuke turned off the light in his room and shut the door as he left, Naruto couldn't fight off sleep anymore. That night he had pleasant dreams involving a certain bastard.

~*~*~*~

"Why are we doing this again?" Kiba complained.

"Because I told you to do it," Sasuke answered.

What was going on? Well, Sasuke and Naruto were rearranging their rooms. After the "kiss goodnight" a few days previously, the relationship between the two picked up speed. They decided to start dating, and had been sharing a bed, but not having sex, since then. However, Sasuke was not allowed to sleep completely naked, leaving the two to compromise with him wearing boxers to sleep. Now that he was used to sharing a bed with the blonde, Sasuke wanted to continue their new tradition and thus moving furniture around was necessary. There simply was not enough space on a campus bed for two people to sleep comfortably, and not enough space in one room to put two beds together and have a desk in there as well. This meant that Naruto's old room was being converted into a "study room" where all their books and the desks would be, along with the extra things like luggage bags stuffed in the closet. As for Sasuke's room, that was being turned into the bedroom that they would be sharing, which would have the two beds put together and their clothes in the closet.

"Did Naruto even agree to this?" Kiba wondered out loud.

~*~*~*~

Naruto grumbled as he stormed up the four flights of stairs he needed to take in order to get to his room. Normally he would have taken the elevator, but Anko had annoyed him enough that he wanted to take out his frustration on the stairs. Thankfully, in the blonde's opinion, he only had to work one more week in the semester with her. This was because he wasn't allowed, as a student, to work during exam week. Even so, that didn't mean that the taunting for the rest of the week he worked would go away. Anko continuously bugged him that the semester wasn't over yet, and that he could still lose his virginity in the timeframe that she set up for him back in the spring.

Realizing that he reached the apartment door, Naruto took in a deep breath and decided to try and forget what Anko said. Sure, it probably seemed weird that a college junior, someone who had already turned twenty-one, was still a virgin, but he didn't care. He wasn't about to just give it up to whoever simply because being his age, in college, and a virgin was a rarity.

Opening the door, Naruto went through the open door blocking off the hallway leading to his and Sasuke's rooms, only to blink as he realized that his bed was missing and a desk and books were in its place. Backing up a few steps, he then peered into Sasuke's room and saw that his bed had been stolen and placed in the bastard's room. Naruto shook his head and realized that he should have expected this to happen since they had been sharing a sleeping space recently.

Seeing that no one seemed to be in the apartment, though there was a possibility that Shino was, but the guy was so quiet that the blonde couldn't be sure, Naruto just shrugged and kicked off his shoes while collapsing on the joined beds. Maybe taking a short nap before dinner would put him in a better mood.

A few hours later, Naruto woke up to fingers running through his hair. Leaning into the hand, Naruto was willing to admit that he loved it when someone played with his hair. His mother did it while he was growing up, and it always calmed him down and apparently it still worked.

"Finally awake?" Sasuke whispered.

"Mmm…."

"It was Kiba's turn to make dinner, so there are burgers and fries waiting for when you decide to get up."

Naruto simply nodded to the comment, enjoying the feeling of Sasuke playing with his hair, but he had a few questions he wanted to ask.

"Why'd you move the rooms around?" he mumbled.

"I figured that there was no reason to stop sharing a bed, and this means we can have a space dedicated to studying without it being covered in clothes as well."

"Did you do it by yourself?"

"No, I made Kiba help me."

Chuckling at the comment, Naruto could picture how Kiba must have been annoyed with helping Sasuke of all people move things around from one room to another.

"What happens during the winter break?" Naruto finally asked.

He felt Sasuke freeze at his question, which upset the blonde since he wanted Sasuke to keep playing with his hair. Thankfully he didn't have to wait too long for the Uchiha to return to running his fingers through his hair.

"You could always stay at my place again. My mother seems rather _fond_ of you."

"Can't," Naruto murmured while shaking his head. "My parents will want me home."

A long silence fell over the new couple before Naruto sat up and wandered into the kitchen, Sasuke following silently after. As the blonde ate the food left for him, Naruto seemed to suddenly get an idea.

"You could always come home with me for the break," Naruto mentioned. "Besides, I'm sure my parents will want to meet you."

"Hmm…I'll see if I can."

~*~*~*~

Getting off of the airplane, Naruto stretched and winced when he felt his back pop in a few places. He really hated flights because he had to sit in one place for an extended period of time. Sure, he would often fall asleep, but he would always wake up sore.

"So…where do we go from here?"

Naruto blinked over at Sasuke before grinning sheepishly. He had forgotten that Sasuke wasn't used to the airport that they were in.

"This way," Naruto announced while leading the way.

It didn't take long for the pair to get through the airport and to where they needed to go, and then as they were going down the escalator, Naruto saw a head of bright yellow next to one of red-orange.

"There they are!" Naruto shouted as he grabbed Sasuke's hand and dragged him over to his parents.

"Naru! You're home! My baby is home!" the woman cried out as she embraced Naruto.

"Mom! Stop it…."

"Embarrassed to be hugged by your own mother, are you?"

Naruto was about to answer; however, he was saved by his father who sent him a look as if to say he would help.

"Ah, is this the one we've been hearing about? Sasuke is it?" Naruto's father started. "I'm Minato and this is my wife, Kushina."

"Nice to meet you both, and yes, I am Sasuke."

Naruto was happy that his father saved him from the wrath of his mother, since there really was no way to get around the situation otherwise. He was also pleased that Sasuke seemed to be behaving himself around his parents. Not that either would really care too much if something slipped, which was expected of new couples, but Naruto really didn't want to deal with the teasing he would receive from his mother and father about it. Besides, it was nice to have a break from the perverted side of Sasuke, which was actually around less frequently since they got together.

"Oh! You're the young man dating my baby!" Kushina beamed.

Grumbling, Naruto knew it was too good to last. His parents always found some way to embarrass him, and what was worse, was the fact that they were still in the airport….

~*~*~*~

It was a few days until Christmas and Kushina was dragging "the boys", who consisted of Minato, Naruto, and Sasuke, around in a nearby city to do some shopping. She sent Naruto and Sasuke on their own, and wandered off while leading Minato elsewhere.

"So…what do you want for Christmas, Sasuke?"

"Hmm? Oh…well, nothing really. What about you?"

Naruto frowned. It felt weird to hear that Sasuke didn't want anything, which shouldn't have since Naruto really didn't care to get anything either.

"I don't really want anything either…."

"Well, we're certainly an odd pair, so…what should we do?" Sasuke questioned.

Shrugging in order to convey his message, Naruto remained silent.

"Well…I have an idea. We could just spend the day together, allowing me to molest you," Sasuke said quietly enough so that only Naruto would hear him in the crowd of people out shopping.

"Pervert," Naruto muttered.

Ah, well…Naruto knew it was too good to last. The pervert in the Uchiha had to reappear sometime.

"Come on, bastard; help me find gifts for my parents."

~*~*~*~

Gifts had been handed over to his parents, and then Naruto mentioned that he had plans with Sasuke. They seemed to understand and sent him on his way. It wasn't anything special, but the couple decided to walk around the town and spend some time in the park, mainly because no one else would be around. It would be just them.

"It's cold…" Naruto muttered.

"Do you want to head back?"

Naruto just gave a small smile and shook his head while grabbing onto Sasuke's hand and dragging him off toward the park. Their trip was a bit slow, due to the snow that was on the ground, but neither seemed to mind all that much. Naruto even managed to forget about the cold as he and Sasuke simply talked about various things on the way.

Once they reached the park, Naruto darted off and decided to declare a snowball war, which ended with both boys cold and wet. This made them turn back toward Naruto's house, but neither was upset about the day. They didn't want anything for Christmas but to spend the day together, and so they did. Even when they got back to the house they were left on their own after they entered and Kushina mentioned the hot chocolate in the kitchen, only to then announce that she was going with Minato to visit some friends of the family. Naruto asked if he should go, but his parents reassured him that they would explain his absence, which only worried the blonde, but Sasuke was quick to stop him from leaving.

Left in the house, alone together, the pair simply sat on the couch with a thick blanket draped over the both of them. Naruto sipped at his hot chocolate and Sasuke merely held his to warm up his hands. They simply sat there together, with the television off, talking. However, the pair eventually did begin kissing on the couch at one point, which is how Naruto's parents found them.

"Oh! Um, ignore us boys, we're off to bed. Continue."

Blushing a horrible scarlet color, Naruto buried his head into Sasuke's chest. He knew that he shouldn't be embarrassed, but being caught by his own parents…what else was he supposed to feel?

"Hey…they're gone now," Sasuke whispered to him.

"Yeah but…."

"Don't worry about it, besides, we could have been doing worse."

"Huh?"

"I could have had you moaning on this couch when they walked in."

Naruto hit Sasuke in the chest and gave a small glare. The pervert in Sasuke was back yet again, but there really was nothing that he could do about it.

"Come on," Sasuke said while standing up, and then picking up the blonde, "let's go to bed."

"Hey! Put me down, I can walk!"

Unfortunately for Naruto, Sasuke simply shook his head and carried him all the way to bed. Once they were both settled for the night, Naruto quickly fell asleep, knowing that his boyfriend would be up for a bit longer before finally following Naruto into the world of dreams.

~*~*~*~

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Naruto found himself in a lip lock in the middle of the group of people gathered at his parents' house. Sasuke had shocked the blonde, but he certainly wasn't complaining. They had another week and a half before they had to be back at college, before work overtook their lives once again, and so they decided to make the best of their time off.

It wasn't until everyone had left, going to another house to continue the festivities, Naruto's parents going with the group, that the young couple was left alone, and Naruto could tell that Sasuke was trying to keep his 'inner pervert' away, but the blonde had a surprise for him. Pulling Sasuke up to his room, Naruto continued their make-out session. It didn't take long for the pair to end up in the bed.

"N-Naruto…we don't—"

"I know…and we're not going to have sex, I'm just going to…give you a _gift_."

It didn't take long for Naruto to clarify what he meant to Sasuke as he reached into his boyfriend's pants and began to stroke the hardened flesh contained within.

"Naruto!" Sasuke gasped out.

The blonde pulled his hand out and tugged at Sasuke's pants.

"It will probably…be better if you got out of those."

It didn't take long for Sasuke to lose his pants, and for the same to happen to Naruto. This caused the blonde to look at the Uchiha in momentary confusion, until Sasuke grasped a hold of him with his perverted grin.

"I think I'll give you a gift as well."

The two young men then decided to take care of each other's "problem", going as far as a couple can without actually having sex. They experimented with a few things, only to end their night completely satisfied and thoroughly exhausted; however, before getting too comfortable, Naruto double checked the bedroom door to make sure it was locked before collapsing on the bed beside Sasuke. Slipping into sleep, Naruto vaguely realized that they were both going to sleep naked, which was against the rule he had given Sasuke, but figured that the rule might be obsolete now.

~*~*~*~

Naruto glared at all the work he was given. It really made no sense that all the professors thought that they would be "different" and give them the "hard work" now before anyone else…but all that ended up doing was making all the classes have big projects due at the same time. Thankfully spring break just started and he could dedicate time to getting some of the work done during that week.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?"

"You have all week to get that done, and you know that you can get it done in a day, two at most, so don't worry about it so much right now," Sasuke murmured while sipping at his mug of coffee while wandering around in his boxers.

Unlike some people, Sasuke and Naruto decided to stay on campus for spring break instead of heading for a beach or going home. However, there were more people on campus during spring break than for Thanksgiving break some months before. Even so, their other roommates were not around, so Sasuke didn't feel the need to get properly dressed, especially since he just woke up…and it was going on two in the afternoon.

"Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"You do realize that outside of this work…we have to narrow down graduate schools…right?"

Naruto could see that Sasuke stiffened at the mention of graduate schools, probably because they seemed to be going in two different directions for that. Despite that, Naruto wanted Sasuke to be aware that they had to make more choices for their futures soon.

"Another thing that you shouldn't worry about right now," Sasuke muttered into his mug while taking another drink.

"Not to mention that summer vacation is under two months away…and I don't think we'll be able to stay at each other's places for the whole summer…."

"Naruto," Sasuke growled in warning, "don't worry about it, we'll deal with it when we get there, okay?"

Sighing, the blonde could only nod. Making Sasuke upset when he was still not completely awake was a bad idea.

"Fine."

"It's not like a little separation will kill us," the Uchiha said out loud, though it seemed to be directed more toward himself than to Naruto.

"Come on Sasuke…let's go outside, I don't want to be cooped up in here all day. Put on some clothes, and we'll make the best of the free time we have left of the semester. When summer comes, we'll figure it out, as you said."

The small smile that Naruto managed to pull out of the Uchiha was enough to make Naruto's day. That's all he had to worry about for the moment…all he needed was to live each day as it came.

Next semester was next semester, and sure, graduation loomed over their heads with the coming of the next school year, but they would figure something out…later.


	3. Choosing Graduate Schools and Graduation

This is the final part, and I think it took so long because I didn't want to see it go. While I am not completely in love with this part, it is open for a sequel.

Warnings:  
Same as before, and if you're this far, you should know them.

* * *

Blinking at the letter in his hands Naruto smiled slightly and added it to the other letters on the right side of his desk while collecting the ones on the left and tossing them into the garbage next to his desk. He had been accepted to another graduate school's theatre program, and now he had more to choose from. Knowing this kept him from being upset about the ones that didn't accept him into their programs, and there was another thing that was keeping him from being too upset about the rejections; Sasuke was moving back into the dorms later that day.

Naruto had gotten back to the school a few days earlier than most, unknown to the Uchiha, since he wanted to already be settled before Sasuke saw him again. About four months without seeing each other certainly left a lot to be desired, even if they had talked online and over the phone from time to time over the summer, but they still had other obligations to tend to. Naruto worked over the summer, especially since he knew he would need the money in the future to pay for things for school, and to save up for paying back loans once he had to take care of those. As for the bastard, Naruto was told of some family reunion that was taking place over the summer at some point, only to hear the horror stories once the Uchiha was able to access a computer.

Overall, Naruto would say that he had a pleasant summer, but it would be nice to see Sasuke again.

Hearing the door open, the blonde perked up and peaked out of the room that he was in. He immediately spotted the dark-haired bastard and their eyes locked for a second before Naruto realized the questioning look that Sasuke shot him.

"How long have you been here?" the Uchiha demanded.

"Two days, why?"

The semi-growl that was shot at him did not prepare Naruto for the sudden attacking Sasuke's lips did. They remained in a lip-lock for a few seconds before the Uchiha pulled away and gave the blonde a small glare.

"You…could have…told me," he muttered between quick kisses.

"I wouldn't…have…gotten to finish…anything…if I…did."

Not so surprisingly, Sasuke kept from commenting on Naruto's statement. Especially since the blonde knew that Sasuke couldn't deny the statement.

"I thought I was supposed to help you move in, not watch you molest your boyfriend."

Naruto jumped away from Sasuke and turned his attention toward the older Uchiha brother standing in the entrance of the apartment.

"Shut it, Itachi," Sasuke growled.

"Hello, Naruto," Itachi added.

Naruto gave a small wave while trying to hide behind Sasuke. It was rather embarrassing to be caught by Itachi, especially since the last time he saw the older Uchiha brother was back when he just started dating Sasuke.

"Well, you can move yourself in; I'm not going to stick around and watch this mushy crap."

With that Itachi left the pair behind, leaving Naruto at the mercy of Sasuke without anymore interruptions.

"Now that he's gone…I still am not happy about not knowing that you were here already…."

The strange flicker in Sasuke's eyes left Naruto suspicious of his boyfriend, and with a very good reason since Sasuke pounced a moment later.

~*~*~*~

Taking a seat in one of his required history classes, Naruto wondered where the instructor was. The blonde had almost been late because Sasuke demanded that there was coffee in his system before he was forced to go to class. Speaking of the bastard, Sasuke was sitting next to Naruto with a styrofoam cup filled with the caffeine giving liquid inside, in his hand.

Naruto, feeling slightly tired, despite his usual energetic self, folded his arms on the table in front of himself and put his head down. What was the point of sitting up when the professor wasn't even there?

"Naruto?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay?" Sasuke questioned while sipping his coffee.

"Just…a little tired."

When there were no more comments from Sasuke, Naruto figured that the Uchiha was content with the answer he received. However, while Sasuke was quietly drinking what was left of his coffee, the rest of the class was chattering since the professor still had not arrived. There was even a student-made attendance sheet being passed around at this point; the class wasn't going to wait much longer.

After a few more moments, Naruto felt someone shaking him into consciousness.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Come on, Naruto, the class is leaving, so sign the damn paper so we can get out of here."

Muttering under his breath about bastards and needing sleep, Naruto 'borrowed' Sasuke's pen and quickly scribbled his name on the paper and passed the sheet to the next person.

The pair immediately went back to their room, and Naruto immediately dropped into the bed and curled up, clearly showing that he did not intend to get up any time soon. A moment after this, the blonde felt a cool hand pressed up against his forehead, making him grumble and pull away from it.

"You don't seem to have a fever…but I think you're getting sick."

"'m not..." Naruto protested into the pillow he was using.

"Why else would you be out of energy at…ten in the morning?"

Naruto had peeked over at Sasuke and watched as he glared at the clock when he read off the time. Yes, even ten in the morning was still too early for the Uchiha. However, Naruto was feeling rather difficult at the time and simply shrugged before burying his face back into the fluffy pillow.

"You're being difficult, Naruto."

Again, Naruto simply shrugged while trying to ignore his boyfriend. All he wanted was some extra sleep. Was that really any reason to think that he was sick?

~*~*~*~

A few days later the blonde glared at the tiled floor of the nurse's office as she confirmed that he was sick. Naruto managed to catch a cold, and it wasn't until earlier that day that he finally got a fever, thus causing a fussy Uchiha to demand that Naruto see the nurse.

Naruto didn't like hearing that he was sick, mainly because he knew that he would be miserable until it finally passed. Usually his immune system was nice to him, but every once in a while it seemed to think that he needed to experience a few days looking like the living-dead.

"Just take some over the counter pain relievers if necessary, drink plenty of water, and get a decent amount of rest. You should be fine in about a week."

Naruto muttered out a mumbled thank you to the nurse and left the office, only to come face to face with the one that forced him to enter the horrible sterilized room.

"Well?" Sasuke asked.

"I have a cold. I'll be fine."

"Hn, I told you that you were sick."

Muttering curses under his breath, Naruto walked past Sasuke with every intention of heading to his class that started in fifteen minutes.

"Where are you going?"

"Class," Naruto grumbled.

"Oh no you aren't. You're going to go back to bed and rest."

The blonde was tempted to just hit his head onto the nearest hard surface, but he managed to restrain himself. He had never been sick while dating Sasuke, so he had no warning that the Uchiha turned into a mother hen when he was. Why did he have to have such a fussy lover?

"I think I can handle going to class with a cold."

Naruto watched as Sasuke frowned, but it looked like he was going to be able to get away without any more protests. Unfortunately, as Naruto started walking away, Sasuke grabbed his arm and looked at him much like his mother would when he was close to getting into trouble. This caused the blonde to freeze up; he really shouldn't have allowed Sasuke and his mother to spend that much time together.

"Once you're done with that class, I expect you to head back to the room. Understand?"

"Fine…now can I go before I'm late for class?"

He didn't get a verbal reply, but at least Sasuke let him go. However, it wasn't until the blonde was sitting in class that he realized that all he did was prolong the inevitable. Sasuke was going to fuss regardless of when he went back….

~*~*~*~

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"Have you decided where you're going to go for graduate school?"

Naruto watched as Sasuke paused in typing up his history research paper, that wasn't due for another month, only to then continue typing a moment later.

"No."

"Why not? I've already narrowed my choices down to two schools, so why haven't you been done with that?"

Watching as Sasuke sighed and turned around, Naruto wondered what was keeping the Uchiha procrastinating.

"I'll probably just pick a random one out of the acceptance letters and just go there."

"That's stupid!" Naruto exclaimed. "Who knows where you'll end up that way! You could end up in some seedy place filled with perverts and who knows what else!"

"So says the one in theatre…" Sasuke mumbled.

"They're just eccentric; they're completely harmless," Naruto protested.

"Right…and that Sai that you work with in the library, he's in theatre too, isn't he?"

"Yeah…and?"

"He seems to like commenting on your penis a lot. I don't like it."

"Jealous, Uchiha?"

"There's nothing to be jealous about; he doesn't have you. You just make sure he stops making those comments, at least while I'm around so I don't have to be charged with premeditated murder."

Naruto just sighed at the comment before getting up from his own desk and opening the drawer to Sasuke's.

"And what are you doing?" Sasuke demanded.

"Looking through your acceptance letters."

"What for?"

"To look up these schools and figure out which one is the best for you."

"Give those back."

"No, if you're not going to take your education seriously, someone has to."

The blonde heard Sasuke mutter something, only to then realize the letters were snatched out of his hands.

"Hey!"

"They're not yours," Sasuke stated. "I'll figure out where I'm going soon enough, don't worry about it. Besides, it's your school that will a hassle to deal with."

Blinking out of confusion, Naruto tilted his head slightly.

"And why is that?"

"My master's degree in business is only a two year program, your theatre one is for three years."

"Oh…right…."

~*~*~*~

It was quiet on the campus…and for a good reason too, it was the end of the school year. With finals over, most of the students already moved out and left; however, for the seniors, they stayed on campus. Graduation was the next day.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?"

"Would you stop fidgeting? It's only graduation."

"Only graduation?! Sasuke, don't you understand that this is the end of a giant step in our lives? That the very continuance of our future rests on getting that slip of paper? All the work we put into these last four—"

"Over dramatic much?"

"It's my job to be dramatic! I'm a theatre major!"

Naruto chose to ignore the chuckles that Sasuke let escape since even he had to admit that he was being somewhat dramatic about the whole thing, but still…it was the end of four years of their lives, and now they were all moving on to bigger and better things. It was a bit scary to think about…just as it had been when he graduated high school.

Realizing that his hand was somewhat shaking, Naruto realized that maybe he should calm down a bit, but how was he supposed to release all the tension he had? Pouting, he spotted Sasuke out of the corner of his eye…hmm…he could get Sasuke to help him relieve his tension….

"Sasuke…" Naruto breathed out in a husky tone.

When Sasuke started to turn around to respond, Naruto didn't give him the chance. The blonde immediately attached his lips onto the Uchiha's and figured that he would let the night go where it was bound to go.

~*~*~*~

Wincing a bit as he sat in his seat, Naruto glared at Sasuke when he heard a chuckle. Okay, releasing tension had seemed, and felt, like a wonderful idea at the time, but he sort of forgot that it was a bad idea considering that graduation was the next day….

"Oh shut up," Naruto grumbled quietly.

The pair sat through speeches from various people such as the president of the school, professors, and fellow students. By the time everything was done, the graduating class was happy to be able to leave. Not because they hated the school, but more because they were tired of sitting there for so long.

They were finally done.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto excused himself from his group of theatre friends when he spotted his wandering boyfriend, probably looking for the blonde.

"Are you ready to go?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yep!"

The pair was going to spend the summer together, spending it with Sasuke's family for the first part, and then Naruto's for the second. They were planning to spend as much time with each other as possible before their grad schools tore them from each other's sides. Both of them agreed that they shouldn't let their relationship determine which school they should go to and simply go to the best one that accepted them, and while that meant that they would be separated, they wouldn't attend a school they had to settle for.

~*~*~*~

Standing at the airport, the two young men paused when they reached the point where they had to separate. The summer had been wonderful, but now it was time to continue their educations.

"So…you're headed straight for the school?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I managed to get Itachi to agree to take my things to the apartment I have at the school, so I'll be meeting him there."

"Heh, well at least this time he won't walk in on something he doesn't want to."

"What about you?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well, I have to switch planes once, but I'll be headed to the school after that…."

The couple stood there in an awkward silence for a moment before Naruto heard his flight being announced, only to then hear Sasuke's being announced right after.

"Well…" Naruto started, "I guess this is it for a while…."

"Hn."

"Damn it, don't start that—"

Before he could finish, Sasuke pulled Naruto into a tight embrace, as if he was content with just holding him. A second later, Naruto returned the hug with just as much force.

"I'll miss you, you know that right?" Sasuke whispered.

"Yeah…."

"Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Uh huh…."

"I love you."

Throughout their relationship, neither one dared to utter those words, so hearing them now certainly caught Naruto off guard.

"I love you, too," Naruto whispered back.

Before Sasuke was allowed to say anything more, Naruto pulled the other into a kiss just as the final boarding calls were being made for their flights.

"Better hurry up or we'll miss our flights," Sasuke mentioned.

Silently agreeing, Naruto sighed and stepped back from his boyfriend.

"Well, I guess I'll see you some time…later!"

With that Naruto rushed off to catch his plane while leaving Sasuke behind to do the same. The blonde would have lingered longer if he had the time, but he knew that he would see Sasuke again; it would just be a while before then….


End file.
